OCTOBER 22, 2011

F1 set for New York in 2013!

According to today's Wall Street Journal, a Tuesday press conference at Port Imperial in Weehawken will announce a second New York-based American grand prix, scheduled to first run in 2013.

The USA last hosted a Grand Prix at Indianapolis in 2007 and will return to the schedule with a race in Austin, Texas, at the end of 2012.

F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has tried to bring F1 to New York for more than 30 years. He flew to the Big Apple earlier this year for negotiations but the F1 community was widely sceptical about the likelihood of a race actually coming off.

One of the reasons behind that was that a stipulation for local government funding of the Texas race -- crucial to its viability -- was that the area faced competition from another US locale. Many believed that the New Jersey talks were simply a means of Ecclestone satisfying that requirement.

According to the WSJ, a road course will be designed in Weehawken and West New York along the Hudson River—against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline.

The mayors of Weehawken and West New York issued a joint statement that they were in talks with a group of investors led by Leo Hindery Jr., a former chief executive of the YES Network, to bring a race to New Jersey.

It is intended that the New York race could run in June, back-to-backed with Canada, leaving Austin back-to-backed in a year-end slot close to Brazil, as next year. We await developments on Tuesday with interest!